7th Annual 1for50 Global Retreat

by BeckyD on June 21, 2017

We have much to celebrate in the 1for50 movement as God continues to expand our vision, raise up more, energized leaders, and provide us with new opportunities, all for the sake of giving every child in every community all around the world the opportunity to know Jesus and follow him for a lifetime!

Annual Retreat

The 7th Annual 1for50 Global Retreat took place in Nairobi, Kenya May 22-25, 2017. Ninety-five leaders from twenty nations laughed, dreamed, learned and worked together to move the 1for50 dream forward in their countries and regions. It was the largest global retreat in the movement’s history, almost doubling last year’s retreat attendance. Even more exciting… over half of the attendees were new the movement!

Over the past year, the 1for50 global leadership team (now comprised of 11 individuals representing 7 nations) has been asking the question, “What is needed for the next stage of 1for50 growth and multiplication?” Discussions and prayer around this question led us to develop several key ideas and tools, which we presented at last month’s retreat.

Refocused Vision: The vision of 1for50 has always been to reach and disciple children in lasting ways. This is still our vision, but God has led us to put a stronger emphasis on partnering with children. We believe that true discipleship of children should lead to children themselves becoming disciple-makers. This refocused vision is now reflected in the 1for50 Hand and Vision Documents, and in the coming months, we will be adding a new lesson on partnering with children in the TWELVE training curriculum.

1for50 Roles and Pathways of Involvement: We also want to more effectively support leaders in the movement as well as set up better systems for communication and reporting. This led us to intentionally define 4 key roles within the movement: the “One,” trainer, master trainer, and regional champion (while also recognizing that other roles exist to keep the movement moving forward such as resource writers, financial supporters, etc.)

We submitted drafts of these roles and the pathways of involvement to the participants at the retreat. Workgroups discussed the drafts, asked important questions and provided valuable insight and ideas. The leadership team plans to take this feedback and finalize the role documents by the end of June 2017.

Covenant of Commitment: Along with the roles, we asked participants to give feedback on a 1for50 Covenant of Commitment. The covenant provides a way to intentionally invite people into the movement, providing them with a sense of belonging and that we are serious in our commitment to reach and disciple children for Christ.

The 1for50 App: 1for50 now has an app (which can be downloaded from both the Apple Store and Google Play). The app is still very early in its development, but we hope it will become a great tool for local connection, encouragement and reporting.

Participants spent several sessions the last two days of the retreat developing 1for50 action plans for their nations/regions. Sixteen plans were submitted to the leadership team with 12 training events already added to the 1for50 calendar! Members of the global team will be following up with leaders from each nation to encourage and support them as they implement their plans. Regional champions are also being identified and will help to support leaders as they follow God’s lead.

We rejoice in all that God has done and is doing, and we look forward with anticipation to all he will do in the days ahead.

Who are we?

This is the website of the Global Children's Forum. We are drawn from diverse Christian churches, traditions and organisations. We are united in our desire to serve together until every child discovers Jesus - we want the church worldwide to 'aim lower'.

Here are some of the key pages on our website that will help you capture something of the heart and ethos of what we do.